Equalists
The Equalists are/was a terrorist and revolutionary organization in the animated series The Legend of Korra ''and the main antagonists of Season 1/''Book 1: Air, and they are directed against the art of bending, and as a direct result, against benders themselves. They serve as one of the main conflicts in the series. The Equalists utilize chi blocking as a means to counteract bending and its advantages. They also utilize long range weapons, which they use to tie together and hold down the arms and legs of their enemies, similar to a meteor hammer. Other tools and equipment that the Equalists use include smoke grenades, motorcycles, electrified gauntlets, and mechanical suits. They were lead by the masked revolutionary, Amon, whose main goal was to ultimately rid the world of bending. Through difficult training, the chi-blocking Equalists were skilled enough to defeat both Korra and Mako in combat, avoiding their bending strikes and successfully subduing both expert benders. They also shares the same belief and intentions as that of their leader. History In order to fulfill their goal, the leader, Amon, decided to accelerate the plans after the early arrival of the Avatar to the city, a reason why an Equalist assembly called "The Revelation" was scheduled to be carried out. For this purpose, they kidnapped some Triple Threat Triad members and Bolin. Mako and Korra witnessed the Equalist ride away in a truck with their hostages. The duo gave chase on Naga, and the Equalists were forced to evade some firebending and earthbending attacking. Eventually, two Equalists on motorcycles, stayed behind to face their pursuers. With a well-aimed throw, one Equalist fighter tripped the polar bear dog by tying her legs together with a rope. As the animal's riders where thrown free, the two Equalists prepared for a hand-to-hand combat with the two benders. With their superior agility, the two Equalist fighters were able to immobilize Korra and Mako with chi blocking, but they retreated when Naga untangled herself and came to the rescue of her friends. Later, at the rally, Amon gave a speech, telling the audience about his life story and his motivation to lead the revolution. He blamed the benders of the world to be the cause of every war that has ever been, and showcased his plans for all the benders in the world on the prisoners by demonstrating an ability the spirits had granted him, the ability to take away a person's bending permanently. Unknown to the attendees at the time, however, Korra and Mako had infiltrated the rally, and just before Amon could remove Bolin's bending, Korra released vast amounts of steam from the water boilers, creating enough of a distraction and cover for Mako to overpower an Equalist fighter, grab Bolin and get out before anyone could react. Amon's second-in-command, the Lieutenant, defeated the two brothers rather easily with his electrified kali sticks while they were trying to escape, however, Korra arrived and earthbent him into a wall, before he could do more damage. As the trio escaped on Naga, the Equalists wanted to give chase, but Amon gave the order to let them go, stating that the Avatar was the the best person to spread word of his power. The Equalists and their leader has made a profound impression on the Avatar, as Korra had nightmares about being attacked by them after witnessing their skill at the rally. When Korra later aided a special task force led by Councilmen Tarrlok to raid a secret underground training facility in the Dragon Flats district, an Equalist ambushed her when she was inpursuit of two trainees. However, Korra managed to evade his attack and immobilize him by bending a rock straight into his stomach. A second Equalist member was frozen to the wall when Tarrlok came to Korra's rescue. The raid resulted in the defeat and capture of four Equalist members. At the ensuing press conference, Korra challenged Amon to a duel on Aang Memorial Island at midnight, without the presence of the task force or the chi blockers. However, Amon didn't held up on his end of the deal, and as Korra was heading home, believing he didn't turn up, several Equalists engaged in a fight with the Avatar and quickly overpowered and immobilized her. It was only then that Amon emerged from the shadows and explained part of his plan to eradicate all benders. Knocking Korra out cold, but without doing further damage, the Equalists left her in the island's museum. Amon later demanded a shutdown of the pro-bending arena via radio, prompting the Council to abide and cancel the championship tournament in order to avoid conflict. However, Chief Lin Beifong arrived, offering the arena extra security during the match, which the Council agreed to. The Equalists somehow managed to enter the arena, regardless, disguised as arena spectators. After the match, they sprang into action, having hidden electrified gauntlets in their various belongings, and began using them on numerous spectators, including the police sent to secure the arena. Amon and several Equalists quickly evaded and subdued the White Falls Wolfbats (who were still present on the playing field), while the Fire Ferrets (Korra, Mako, and Bolin) were seized by the Lieutenant and tied together. The Wolfbats were then flung into the surrounding water after having their bending removed. Amon then gave a speech to the arena's audience, declaring war on all benders, while several Equalists used the gauntlets to keep the spectators in place. Advocates Advocates of the Equalist revolt have seized Republic City in the thousands. This is particularly noticeable when Korra first enters Republic City and later when she and Mako infiltrate The Revelation lead by Amon, where thousands of anti-benders are seen gathering to hear Amon's speech, much to the surprise of Mako. The first sign of anti-bending propaganda, appears with a man who was attempting to persuade passersby in a park in Republic City to join Amon in his Equalist revolt, when Avatar Korra and her polar bear dog, Naga, passed by as well. She challenged his bold remarks about bending being "tyrannical" and that those who practiced it forced the non-benders of the city to become "lower-class citizens, because of which the protester focused his attention on her. Quickly singling her out to be a bender herself, he used Korra's hotheaded attitude to his advantage, and gained the support of the passersby when he alleged that benders like her "only use their power to oppress non-benders". Unable to come up with a better response to refute these accusations, Korra claimed that he was "oppressing himself", a statement that didn't make sense according to the man, and rode away under loud protest of the crowd. He later encountered Korra a second time, this time with Mako by her side. When he announced an event regarding a revelation, Korra forced him to reveal when and where it was. Rising threat of Equalist revolution When Amon got his chance to rise to power, he, together with his rank-and-file of Equalists, orchestrated a revolt against all benders alike. They fought benders with chi blocking to counter-act bending and held resentment towards the current Avatar, Korra. The Equalists' main revolt was in Republic City, a large metropolis populated with people from all four nations. Eventually, when the news of Amon's ability to remove bending surfaced in the city, Councilman Tarrlok set up a task force in order to combat the Equalist threat. After recruiting Avatar Korra to the team, the force raided a chi blocking training school, defeating and capturing all the Equalists there and sent them to jail. Fall of Republic City Post Equalist Revolution and Equalist revenge of Korra After exposed of Amon real identity, Most citizens who were members of equalists movement are returning their former lives, While very few racial members refused to returning their former lives and will continue plans being equality to world even Amon real identity revealed. All remaining equalists now occupied abandoned quarters. After year of Equalist Revolution and few weeks after Unalaq Crisis an mysterious man named Hundun bribes remaining Equalists to get revenge on Korra for bring "Unequality" to world since Unalaq Crisis. For most of rest of game have Korra and Naga fight with this group again with Triple Raid Triad that Hundun. Until end that they back out as Hundun was pured from Korra's Waterbending. This is seemly the very last time we see this group afterwards. Gallery The Lieutenant and Equalists.png Trivia *Equalist are mostly strongly tendencies from Fascist/Nazis ideology in real world put concepts are based from Communist or "Cultural Marxist" learning's for equal rights (put share nazi idea to kill all non-aryans benders existences in avatar universe). Much like the Equalists believed benders oppress non-benders, communists believed that society is divided into upper classes (aristocracy or bourgeoisie) exploiting the lower classes (workers) and attempted to "equalize" the society (usually by brutal means, i.e. killing members of upper classes; also by extensive use of propaganda - typically flyers and posters). Both factions used to hide from the law, but eventually grew strong enough to openly oppose ruling classes. Moreover, both leaders of communists and Equalists eventually betrayed their own virtues (communist leaders lived in luxury much like pre-revolutionary aristocracy; while Amon turned out to be water- and bloodbender). *At the Equalist rally seen in the trailers, the symbols in the red circle banners visible in the background area Chinese character meaning "equal", "even" or "peaceful". *The Equalists are not the first organization to harbor resentment towards benders. However, they are the first formal canonical example. *The Equalists have no relation to energybending, which has been described by Mike and Bryan as "anti-bending", as well as "un-bending". *The Equalists were originally named the 'anti-benders', until the name change was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. *The Equalist revolt seems to represent the political revolutions set during the 1920s, mainly the Russian Revolution. It also seems similar to the equal rights movements during the 1920s and the 1960s. *Their appearance and goals are similar to the Mutant Response Division. **They also seem a bit like HYDRA in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, if you think about what the two organizations want. Category:Masked Villain Category:Petrifiers Category:Fighter Category:Evil Organization Category:Avatar Villains Category:Cartoon Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Recurring villain Category:Faceless Villains Category:Hatemongers Category:Xenophobes Category:Terrorists Category:Delusional Category:Fascists Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Living Villains Category:Imprisoned Villains Category:Dissolved Organizations Category:Lawful Evil Category:Martial Artists Category:Revolutionary Villains Category:Hegemony